Prelim report: Truck crossed highway line in fatal crash

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A federal report says a crash that killed eight people in Mississippi happened after a box truck crossed the center line of a rural highway and struck a van.

The preliminary report was issued Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. It confirms what the van driver, Alejandro Estrejo Resendiz, told The Associated Press hours after the June 3 wreck near Scooba – that he swerved but the truck hit the van.

All eight killed were in the van and they weren’t wearing seatbelts. The van was owned by Sharp Forestry in Columbus, Mississippi. It was taking workers to Monroeville, Alabama, to cut trees.

The report says the van driver was ticketed for not having a driver’s license.

The truck was owned by Overnight Parts Alliance, based in Birmingham, Alabama.

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